This invention relates to supports and, more specifically, to supports, clamps, mounting and positioning devices, protectors, and vibration isolators designed for pipes, motors, and other objects, including objects with solid cross-sections such as rotating drills and drive shafts.
Piping systems in buildings and commercial installations, such as factories, refineries, and chemical plants, are often anchored to the building structure. Such piping systems are subject to various forces that may cause movement or vibration in the pipes and damage the piping system or the anchors that hold the pipes. The noise generated by such vibration may be irritating to people within the building. Some of the events that cause movement in a piping system are earthquakes, temperature induced expansion and contraction, objects impacting the piping system, changes in the temperature, pressure, composition, turbulence or other flow conditions of the contents of the piping system, and rotations of the pipes or pipe connectors.
Other systems in building, commercial installations, and the like, also may be subject to forces that may cause unwanted or damaging movement or vibration of the systems. Conversely, if the systems include nonstatic elements, such as a rotating drill or drive shaft, the systems may themselves generate forces that cause unwanted or damaging movement or vibration of the structures that anchor or retain the systems in position.